Why Witches Cry: A Left 4 Dead Love Story
by IlovetheWitch
Summary: A lone survivor must find a way to escape Long Beach after it's been infected by a zombie virus. Being all by himself would normally be his doom, but he's about to find an ally in a very unexpected place.
1. Chapter 1 Just the Flu and Me

**Why Witches Cry: A Left 4 Dead Love Story**

_Chapter 1: Just me and the Flu_

Author's Note: Alright! My first public fan fic! I'm so excited! This right here is just as it says, a love story within the world of the very awesome zombie apocalyptic game that is Left 4 Dead. Don't be worried by the love story part. This isn't some twisted hentai involving a Witch and a Hunter or anything like that. I'm not going to spoil anything so you'll just have to wait till I get there! ^_~ Here's the first chapter, I hope you like it!

I should have been dead. Or worse: one of _them_. Everyone knew your best chances for survival during the Infection was in a group. Didn't matter who you were, or how different you were from each other. If you stuck together no matter what, you were a zombie-killing unit that could rival the army. It didn't matter who you were as long as you had a team to watch your back. I didn't. You know how that one old song says one is the loneliest number? Well it's a hell of a lot lonelier in a zombie apocalypse. I had no one. No one to cover me when I patched my wounds, no one to help me up if I was immobilized, no one to cover my ass if a Boomer vomited on me, NO ONE. Just wasn't lucky enough to find anyone human.

I know what you're thinking:"What about your friends and family?" The truth is, I didn't really have friends. I was too much of a hopeless nerd to have any. A lot of kids thought I was a loser and wouldn't come within two feet of me. So I said fuck 'em and just gave up on friendships entirely. As for my family, I'd abandoned them a long time ago. Long fuckin' story, please don't ask. In the years leading up to the Infection I had somehow deluded myself into thinking that my "lone wolf" status was my greatest strength. No one to look after but number one. Nobody to nag me or mooch off of me. Just me, myself and I. But in the wasteland formerly known as planet Earth, being alone was the worst thing to be. I would have killed to have at least one other person as my partner. But nope. Just me, myself and I to look after me. Just like I wanted it. God I was so fuckin' stupid! But anyway, nothing I can do about that now. All that matters is that I survived somehow. Against all odds I made it out alive. I was given a break by God or fate or whatever. And that break's name was Sabrina. Yeah, I know I said I was alone, and I was...until I met her.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning. I'll start by telling you a little about myself. My name is Tyler Smith. Before the Infection I was a clerk at a local game stop at the Long Beach Towne Center. I lived in an apartment nearby, and at the time my story starts, I was nineteen. Naturally I was around for pretty much the whole thing. The first signs of attacks by "crazed persons unknown" on the news, the flu announcements, the "wash your hands to stay safe" campaign, CEDA, the quarantine zones, and eventually the big attack.

I came into work the day it happened. I had been sick for about a week and stayed home from work. At first I was sure that it might be that flu that was going around. But after a week I got better. Unfortunately I didn't watch the news, so I had no idea what was going on. I did hear a lot of helicopters and what I could have sworn were gunshots, but I was so sick I didn't care. I just wanted to stay in bed all day, fuck the world. When I finally got better I tried calling in to let the boss know I'd be coming in today. No body picked up. In fact I didn't even get a dial tone. Did I forget to pay the bill again? Ah, I'd worry about that later. I'd just get over there and see if they needed me. On my way to work, I noticed that the streets were surprisingly empty. I just assumed the sickness had gotten so bad that everyone was just staying in. I thought about the quarantine zones and wondered how much more of them there must be by now. When I got there I found the place locked tighter than Fort Knox. A sign taped to the inside read, "closed due to the flu epidemic". The Center had been getting less and less crowded as the "flu" outbreak spread.

I knew about just as much about the "flu" as the rest of the world did. Some people said it more resembled rabies, what with the crazed attitude and spontaneous violence toward others. I tried to ignore it, saying everything would be fine, today's technology in medicine was a lot more advanced. But I knew that was a crock of shit. When I found the store locked I looked around and do you know what I saw? Nothing. Nobody. Besides some CEDA trucks I was the only one there. It was really eerie. Like something out of I am Legend.

I shook my head and walked to my car, a beat up Volkswagen bus. I had just unlocked the door when I heard a scream behind me. I whipped around thinking someone was hurt, when I saw a woman running straight for me. She looked to be in her early twenties, wearing a tweed dress. She had dark hair, and her skin was a deathly white. And her eyes were hungry. Locked onto me as if I was Thanksgiving dinner. She ran at me like a bullet, and slammed me into my bus. That knocked the wind right out of me, and that allowed her to start beating on me while shrieking and jabbering. What the Hell was this lady's problem? What had I done to her? As she beat on me I pushed her as hard as I could onto the concrete and dove into my bus, slamming the door behind me and locking the door. I reached into my pocket for my keys only to find that I had dropped them on the ground outside. She was now hammering on the door of my car, and she wasn't alone. Someone was now banging on the passenger side door, a man in a Lowe's uniform with the same ghostly white skin as the woman.

"What the fuck do you want?!" I screamed at them. They didn't answer. They only screamed and continued to beat on my car. At this point I was scared out of my mind and didn't know what to do. What was going on!? Were these the victims of this so called "flu" I'd been hearing about? A few of the infected people came to the store every now and then. They were deathly pale and always coughing. They looked like they barely had enough strength to stand. I always had to turn them away, boss's orders. Hard to believe the same people who were coughing their lungs out and who could barely walk were now screaming at me and running at full speed as if the ice cream man was down the street. Just what kind of virus was this?

The Lowe's man had started banging on the passenger window now, and it was starting to crack. The woman on my side seemed to pick up on this and did the same. I heard more screaming and two more pale people, a cop and a man in a HazMat suit, came running at the front of my bus. If I stayed here any longer my car would be completely surrounded and I'd be stuck here until they finally broke in. The passenger window smashed open and Lowe's reached in, trying to grab me by the hood of my sweatshirt. The driver side window started to crack in a spiderweb pattern, and soon the woman in the tweed dress would be in too. Taking a deep breath I unlocked the door and pushed it open as hard as I could, knocking the woman to the ground for the second time and making a mad dash for it.

I had no idea where I was going, but anywhere was better than with these crazies. I dashed across the empty parking lot with the four Infected chasing after me. First thing was first, I needed a weapon. Seemingly sent as a sign from above I saw a lone cop car parked on the sidewalk and half inside Barnes and Noble, books scattered every which way and glass sprinkled all over the car's hood. _A gun. Please lord tell me there's a gun in there!_ I ran as fast as I could, my pursuers not far behind. By their screams I could tell they were at least a couple yards behind me. After what seemed like miles I finally reached the police car and found not only the door wide open, but a semi automatic shotgun sitting between the two front seats. _Please be loaded please be loaded please be loaded. _I'd never shot a gun off before, but right now I had no choice but to try. I dove into the car, grabbed the gun, and spun around while I sat in the driver's seat.

The first to reach me was Lowe's. I brought the gun up, aimed, and fired. The impact blew me all the way back into the passenger seat. Lowe's had a large hole in his chest and was blown back into his buddies. After taking a few seconds to recover I fired three more times, blowing the heads off of Tweed and the Cop as well as the legs off of HazMat. I took a short breather and looked through the glove compartment to find two boxes of shells for the weapon I held. I stuffed them into my sweatshirt pockets and got out of the car. HazMat was crawling on the asphalt toward me, but I emptied a shot into his face plate. I should have been mortified at killing four people right now, but I wasn't. It was self defense, it was either me or them. I had no choice. I was just about to walk away when Lowe's ran into me like a freight train.

What the hell?! Didn't I kill him!? He knocked me to the ground and started beating the hell out of me, the hole in his chest allowing me to see the gray sky above. I gritted my teeth through the pain and aimed for his head. Pulling the trigger completely erased his face, and he fell to the ground. I was completely bewildered. I used the cop car's open door to pull myself up, still staring at Lowe's finally dead carcass. I blew a hole through him. He should have been dead. Flu my ass. The flu didn't make you an almost invincible mad man. Violent grey people that were hard to kill except for the head? This so stunk of zombie apocalypse.

I looked around the Towne Center and saw a few other zombies in the distance. They hadn't noticed me yet, and I wanted to keep it that way. I thought about what I was going to do next. Maybe go home and try to hold the fort until help arrived? No. Doing that might have been a good idea if I had more time to prepare. Plus, these weren't normal zombies. If they could run, did that mean they could climb too? What about the fact that they broke my car window open by slamming on it? They would try that with my window at home, possibly my door if they had too.

Guess my only option was to run. But where? I had no idea where the evacuation zones were. It would be stupid to just wander around aimlessly, that could get me killed. I needed a goal. I thought of places they could be using as evac points that were close by, when it hit me. Disneyland. There was what looked like a helipad on Space Mountain. I passed by it every time I waited in line for that ride. It was longshot, but it was better than sitting here with my thumb up my ass waiting for these things to finish me. Plus, if there was no evac, there would be plenty of restaurants with kitchens loaded with food. Not to mention Disneyland had a gate around it. If I got rid of every zombie in there and locked those gates tight I'd have a pretty decent fortress. Alright, I had a plan. Now I just needed some gear. The road was probably going to be cluttered with cars, and these bastards would probably be attracted to the din of my Volkswagen's rickety engine, so driving was out of the question. It was going to be a long walk to the Happiest Place on Earth, so I'd need some food to hold me over, which also meant something to carry it in. Without any hesitation I ran to the Sports Chalet, careful not to make too much noise that would alert those _things_ of my presence.

_To be continued......._


	2. Chapter 2 Hoofing It

_Chapter 2: Hoofing It_

The Sports Chalet was a cinch to get into. The shotgun was a lot heavier than it looked, and the glass wasn't the heaviest of duties. But I'd have to get in and out quickly since I was sure one or two of the zombies had heard the glass breaking. I wandered aimlessly around the store due to the fact that I'd never had any reason to ever be in here before the zombie apocalypse. This place was huge and wasn't arranged in aisles. The racks and shelves were instead bunched together and the far walls were also sections themselves.

Eventually I found the backpack section at the far left wall and picked out a really nice black one. It was heavy duty enough to carry lots of supplies, with plenty of pockets and adjustable straps. I took the shotgun shells from my pocket and slipped them into a side pocket of the bag. I also found red metal flashlight that I loaded with batteries to use in case it got dark. As I got ready to leave, I thought about getting another weapon, possible a baseball bat. It would be pretty good for cracking some heads. I found them on the far right wall labeled "Team Sports". They came in many varieties: wood, aluminum, foam, short, and long. I examined some of the aluminum bats they had in stock and took a few practice swings. I was having a hard time picking between two of them until I heard the crunching of glass under foot and the jabbering of the Infected. Looked like I'd see which was better through some real practice. I took the longer one first and got ready for the imminent attack, backing up into the rack to keep from being caught off guard.

The first one came running through the racks towards me, an elderly man in a brown leather jacket. I brought the bat up and readied myself as he ran towards me screaming like a madman. As soon as he was close enough I swung hard, his head exploding in a shower of blood and gray matter. The length of the bat did allow for better reach, but it was really heavy, and I knew my arms would get tired before long. I threw it to the ground with a thud and picked up the shorter one. Another scream told me another one was coming. It was a blond woman in a gray t-shirt and faded jeans. Despite the hungry look in her dead eyes and the evil scowl she gave me she was actually quite pretty. I found myself wondering what she did before the apocalypse. What her hobbies were, what her family was like, if she was happy with her boyfriend...or girlfriend, it was possible. Did she ever think she would be reduced to a screaming jabbering lunatic who was about to get her head smashed in by someone she most likely would have snubbed in high school. Wondering where the hell these thoughts were coming from, I gave a scream as I let her have it. Her head wasn't as obliterated as the last guy, but the bat had still done its job and she collapsed to the ground. I looked down at her lifeless body and whispered,  
"Sorry 'bout that." It was an odd thing to say, but I felt I had to do that for some reason. In any case, the bat I'd used may have been shorter, but it was a lot easier to use without tiring out so fast. This was my bat.

A series of screams told me a group of them was coming and that it might be smarter to switch back to my shotgun. If I stuck with the bat I'd be overwhelmed. It also might be smart to start leaving before I got trapped in here. I ran towards the entrance, my gun pointed in front of me ready for an ambush. As I got closer a group of five tore around the bicycle racks and shot toward me. I shot seven rounds into the group, scattering them all over the carpet. I was really trying to slow them down, but to my surprise these guys didn't get back up. Apparently these were the type of zombies that didn't need head shots to stay dead. Guess I just got unlucky with Lowe's.

Another group of about ten ran through the jogging wear racks and I emptied my remaining three rounds into them, deciding I should definitely get out now so I could reload. But no sooner did I finally make it out of the store that I realized I should have saved my bullets for the group outside. An almost ear piercing collection of screams filled the air around the Center, and a swarm of almost thirty were converging from every corner and heading straight for me. It was time for me to haul some serious ass. I ran as fast as I could across the parking lot once again, sticking to the right of the horde as they attempted to swarm me. I decided I should try to get on the freeway so I could hopefully take it and get straight to Disneyland. But first I needed to get on the freeway. There was an exit to the center to the North, just past Chick-Fil-A and In N Out. I bolted past the cop car I got the shotgun out of, wanting very badly to reload it. But this was my first time using a shotgun, so I had no fucking clue how to reload it. I would have very much preferred reloading it when I was out of harms way. Didn't want to risk screwing it up and and getting myself killed. I continued to run, sticking to the sidewalk outside the stores so I'd be able to follow it around the corner and past the car wash. There was an empty SUV parked oddly in front of it. The door was wide open and a fat man's corpse hung out of the driver's seat. His arm hung out with his fingers almost touching the concrete. Barely an inch away from his hand was a white pipe like object. It had a fuse coming out of the top and a red light connected to a small battery duct taped to it. It looked like some kind of....bomb. A gleam of gold from the floor of the SUV caught my eye and I saw that there was a lighter lying next to the brake peddle. In a split second I formulated a plan and scooped the bomb in my hand before snatching the lighter up and jumping on top of the SUV's hood and onto the roof just as an Infected attempted to tackle me.

I sat cross legged on the roof and tried lighting the fuse with the lighter I'd just picked up. It took a few tries to get a flame and I almost got knocked off a few times by the infected slamming into the car. I kicked the face of every Infected that tried to climb up, but if I didn't hurry up they'd swarm me and it would be game over. I'd finally got the fuse to light, and had planned on dropping it into the crowd and jumping as soon as it was about to go off. But as soon as the fuse was lit the battery taped to it started to....beep. As soon as it did the Infected got even more nuts so much that I got knocked off the car. Luckily my backpack broke my fall otherwise my spine might have been in serious trouble. But when I did I dropped the bomb, and every single one of them seemed to forget I was even there, seeming to think a beeping pipe was a much more satisfying target. As the fuse got shorter, the beeping got faster, and I realized this might be a good time to get the fuck out of Dodge. I bolted towards Chick-Fil-A and braced myself under the take-out window. The beeping rose to a fever pitch and soon the thing exploded, taking out every zombie that was smacking at it stupidly. There was a shower of limbs and entrails, but all that mess was incinerated when the SUV exploded from the bomb blast, making a huge mushroom of flame that rose to the sky.

"God damn!" I muttered. "What the hell was that thing?" Whatever it was it had saved my life, and I wouldn't mind finding some more of them. The horde was annihilated, and I was alone again. Just the way I wanted it. Well, it was good to be alone from the zombies anyway. I actually wouldn't have minded another person with me right about now. That would have been someone to talk to and someone to watch my back and make this thing a lot less harder than it was. But right now the only other human I'd seen was the dead man in the SUV, and he wouldn't be helping me or keeping me company anytime soon. Though he had pretty much given me the pipe bomb and the ligther. I looked back at the SUV and muttered, "Thanks. Wish I could have owed you."

I hitched up my bag and and gave a deep sigh. That was a pretty epic battle, but that was most likely just one of many. And I hadn't even left the Center yet. "No use bitchin' about it now." I told myself. I walked briskly down the Center's exit and onto the on ramp for the 605. It felt really weird walking on the freeway, but right now it was all I could do. I got my shotgun ready and started on my long walk to the Disneyland Resort.

* * *

It was starting to get dark and I was exhausted, not to mention thirsty. I hadn't gotten any water before I left, mainly because I hadn't really thought about it. I had just narrowly avoided a zombie horde, excuse me if my mind wasn't in the right place. I decided I'd get off and find a place to bunker down and get some food and water. I got my flashlight out and used it to light my way down the ramp and into a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with. There were still one or two streetlights on, but not enough to light the whole are. I took note of the landmarks around the ramp so I'd know where to come back up. A beat up red Mustang would be a good enough sign. As I cautiously crept towards a block of apartments, my flashlight cutting through the gloom and one hand on the shotgun in my bag, I heard a noise that made my blood run cold. A low growl, coming from somewhere above me. It sounded like some wild animal, like a jungle cat. What would a panther or tiger be doing here? Did it escape from some traveling carnival? Great. That was the last thing I needed on top of zombies. I tucked the flashlight under my arm and got my shotgun out. I backed up against the side wall of a 7-Eleven, so I didn't get ambushed by the blood thirsty kitty. It was somewhere on top of the apartments across from me, and I could see it hunched over, ready to pounce! As soon as we locked eyes it made an ear splitting howl and jumped at me like a rocket. Without hesitation I leaped out of the way, my flashlight falling to the ground and twirling so that the beam landed on the creature that was now clinging to the wall like Spider-Man. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It wasn't a jungle cat, it was a man in a blue hooded sweatshirt and brown jeans, bands of duct tape wrapped around his arms and legs. He slowly turned his head to me and growled again. In that moment I knew he was one of them. But how?! How did he jump at me like that!? There was no time to think, only shoot. I fired three rounds into his body, which made him shriek and jump out of harms way. And I mean JUMP. He was like a frog; he had to be at least twenty feet in the air! I kept my gun trained on him, but didn't bother firing at him. It would have been a waste of bullets. I would have missed. He flew through the sky with his arms outstretched and grabbed a lamp post, swinging on it like an Olympic gymnast before perching on it hunched over and ready to pounce again. Now was my time to shoot. I fired some more rounds into him, but it was too late. He already launched and was on me in a flash.  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it off! Get it off me!" I screamed to no one in particular. I pushed him on the chest and he fell off effortlessly. He was already dead. I'd killed him while he was in mid air. I was so relieved I almost cried. I weakly pulled myself up and took a good look at the monstrosity that had almost tore my chest apart. Its gray skin told me it was definitely an Infected. Taking a closer look I could see that he had sharp teeth and long fingernails that almost looked like claws. If he'd used those on me I would have been done for. I had just come within inches of being dead meat. What the hell was this thing?! First zombies were running and climbing and now they were jumping impossible heights and doing gymnastics?! I started to feel dizzy and I leaned against 7-Eleven to keep from falling. This was like a really fucked up nightmare. Zombies were bad enough, but now they were mutating into super villains?! I shook my head to keep from thinking about it.

I instead found myself thinking about why he was wearing duct tape. I chuckled a bit at that. _What? Duct tape is a much more burning question on your mind than him being as limber as Spider Man?_ But it was indeed a weird thing to see. What purpose did it serve? I did notice that it held his clothes close to his body which would indicate he didn't want it to snag on anything. _Aw! He must have been one of those dudes who run across rooftops and jump on fire escapes! What was that called again?_ "Parkour" I answered aloud, and I found myself chuckling at the irony of it. The zombie virus just so happened to mutate a parkour enthusiast in a way that made him even better at what he did!? "Hope it was fun while it lasted, dude. Sorry I had to cut it short." I found it really weird that I was apologizing to zombies, but I had to realize this wasn't really their fault. They didn't ask for this. They never could have predicted that they would one day be mutated into ravenous lunatics keen on tearing apart their fellow man. They had lives before this, and I'd never know what they were. I only killed them because I had no choice. I was only defending myself. "Poor bastards...." I sighed and cautiously looked around to make sure I was still alone.

I needed to find a place to stay pronto. I crossed the street towards the apartments when I noticed a strange shape spray painted on the sign on the front lawn that should have displayed the name of the apartments. It looked like a house, the simple shape that kids drew. Inside of it was a plus; like a hospital symbol. An arrow to its left pointed to the left of where I was. What the hell did it mean? A safe house? I didn't really think trusting graffiti was such a smooth idea, but it was the only lead I had to a safe place right now, and I was going to take it.

After a few blocks and some zombies, I got to a burger joint called Duke's, with the safe house symbol spray painted on the piece of wood that kept the window barricaded. Pointing my light through the open doors and I could see a heavy metal door painted bright red. That thing looked like it could withstand a zombie attack plus a nuclear strike. I felt very safe just looking at it. Not to mention it was in a kitchen, which hopefully meant food. I'd just crossed the street when I heard that only too familiar scream of a horde. Groaning, I got my gun ready and ducked behind a sedan parked in front of Duke's. Sure that door looked sturdy, but I didn't want to take any chances. I was going to try to thin out the horde as best as I could. When they got close enough I popped out from behind my cover and blew them away. I took a few hits while reloading, but I wasn't going to give in to my pain now when salvation was right behind me.

I was just about satisfied with my thinning job when I heard a loud deep roar echo down the streets. I'd just turned to where the roar seemed to be coming from when a fucking mini van flew right at me! I barely had time to jump out of the way as it crashed into the sedan and went rolling like a rock down the street. I desperately looked for who or what had thrown that at me, and I unfortunately found it. Barreling down the street towards me and knocking every zombie out of its way was a HUMONGOUS ape of a zombie dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans. Its upper body was so muscled that it was 4 times bigger than its legs. It had no neck; its head seemed half buried into its shoulders. And don't even get me started on its arms. They were so massive that they reached all the way down to the ground. His hands seemed to be as big as my whole body. This motherfucker was so big that the whole ground trembled beneath him.

Fuck thinning out the ranks. Now that the Incredible Hulk had showed up I was out of here! I started to run into Duke's when he was still a few yards away. He must have realized I was too far from him, so he stopped in his tracks, dug his hands into the ground, and ripped a piece of concrete out of it! Giving one last roar, he chucked at me has hard as he could. It crashed into the door way above me and showered down into me in fist sized chunks. One of them hit me on the shoulder and knocked me down. It hurt like a bitch but I couldn't stop now. I got on one knee and hurled myself through the door, slamming it shut. I wasn't about to breathe easy now, however. I looked around and saw some crates in the kitchen that I pushed in front of the door just in case it didn't hold. Soon the ground rumbled and I knew that huge bastard was about to tear the door down. _Oh Jesus I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die!_ Soon the door and all the boxes in front of it shook with a loud BANG! But it didn't fly off its hinges like I thought it would. In fact, the tremor it made was barely a fidget. The ape punched again but still the door held firm. There were more smaller bangs as the horde tried to knock it down, but still the door refused to fall. After ten minutes of banging they seemed to get bored, and with that they just left. The ape gave a roar of defeat before stomping away as if pouting. I collapsed to the linoleum and started laughing. I was still alive. I'd beat them. For now.

After searching the kitchen thoroughly, I'd found some leftover packs of beef patties and a sack half-filled with potatoes. I also found some buns and a few veggies. I lit the grill and poured some French fry oil into the deep fryer. While I waited for those to heat up I sliced some potatoes and set them to the side. I walked around the kitchen for a bit and found some things that normally shouldn't be here. The most obvious was the piles of ammo I found on one of the counters and the weapons I found on another. I grabbed some shot gun shells out of a coffee can and turned to the weapons. There was an uzi, a manual shotgun, and a pistol. The pistol had a flashlight attached to it, which would be a lot more easy to wield than that big red hunk of metal I had. I grabbed that and some handgun ammo and preceded to throw some meat on the grill and the potato slices into the deep fryer. There were even some more of those pipe bombs I'd used at the Center, which I gratefully slipped into my pack. The second thing that shouldn't have been here was staring me in the face as I flipped the patties on the grill.

Written all over the walls were messages from other survivors who had been here before me. Most of them were messages to loved ones they'd had to leave behind. Others were some religious bullshit saying this was the rapture and that we all deserved this. But a few of them were warnings. They're not evacuating from this place, bring plenty pipe bombs, stay away from the hospitals, etc. But it was the one above the grill that really got my attention. It was written in red marker and read: Whatever you do, ignore the crying girls. What the fuck did that mean? Even though I'd lived life alone, if I heard a girl crying I'd still try to see if she was alright. For all I knew they might have it even worse than me. Why was I supposed to ignore them?!

A pain in my shoulder kept me from thinking about it further. That's when I went to grab the third thing that shouldn't have been in here: first-aid kits. There were four of them; bright red little bags with a white square and a red cross on them. They were loaded with everything you'd need in case of injury: bandages, antiseptic, sutures, even a small splint. I used the antiseptic to clean the cut on my shoulder from that piece of concrete that fell on it. After bandaging it I slipped the kit into my bag and started to make two burgers and a basket of fries. I never thought I would make myself my own fast food meal, and I never thought it would taste so good either. I washed it down with some water from the tap and I was golden.

After my meal I lied down in a corner of the kitchen and used my bag as a pillow. I knew it would be kinda hard to sleep under the circumstances, but I would need my strength for the next day. I thought about what would happen after I escaped. Would life go back to normal? Would we ever be able to fully get rid of these things? Would I even escape at all? Before I could answer any of these burning questions I passed out. Apparently I was more tired than I thought.

* * *

The next morning I made some more burgers. I ate one for breakfast and stored the others in a take out bag for later, putting some baggies of ice in there to keep them refrigerated. I got the pistol out and prepared to go out the back door, which was identical to the front. There was a metal bar across it, and I'd have to pull it out before I could open it. Through the bars I could see two zombies waiting for me, which I dispatched with a few shots to the torso. After declaring the coast clear, I threw the bar off and walked into the street behind Duke's. It was still a little dark out and the sun was blocked out by the blue clouds covering the sky. I'd barely walked two feet when I heard this weird groan. It was low and gargly, and it sounded like whoever was making it was sick; like they were about to throw up. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this really big blob coming down the street toward me. I'd just turned to look at it when I got a face full of green slime.

"Aw fuck! Ew! Shit!" I screamed as I tried to wipe off this disgusting slime that now covered my clothes completely. My favorite baseball cap was drenched, and what made it even worse is that this shit stunk. I looked up and saw a very fat zombie standing in front of me. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of sweats, and his face was covered in huge boils that swelled on his face like balloons. Green shit was dripping from his mouth, and I realized in horror that he had just vomited on me. Before I could pay him back, I heard another horde scream and saw waves of infected running at me a lot faster than usual. _Oh fuck. This must be attracting them like flies on shit! This day's getting off to a great start isn't it?!_ I ran back into Duke's and shut the door, but the horde slammed into it before I could put the pole up. I tried to hold it back, but it was really hard when about 20 people were pushing on a door against one. I pulled off my bag and leaned against the door with my back. I reached into the bag and pulled out a pipe bomb and the lighter. As soon as it was lit I tossed it through the bars and watched as the horde chased it stupidly and smacked it until it blew up, taking them with it. Why the hell did they do that?! Didn't they see that what they were hitting obviously wasn't human? Were they that stupid?

But unfortunately that sick groan told me that the fat bastard wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. I saw him through the bars, about a yard away. I took aim with the pistol and fired a coulple shots into his fat stomach. And he exploded. I'm not kidding. That fat fuck blew up in a shower of blood and green bile, leaving only his chubby legs behind. I'd never seen anything so disgusting and so funny at the same time. I was still pissed though. I had barely left the safe house and already I was almost killed and now covered in this stinky vomit shit. I took a deep breath and attempted to walk out into the city again.

These mutated bastards were really getting on my nerves. The zombies weren't dangerous enough that there had to be ones with super powers?! Whatever. No use crying about it. At least I was still alive. I walked down the street till I found the red mustang next to the on ramp. I climbed back up and made my way towards where I hoped Disneyland was. After a mile or two I got to a cluster of cars that had to be climbed over. There was even one point where I had to walk over a bunch of them like a bridge. It was when I finally crossed the bridge and got back on the ground that I heard someone crying. A girl or woman.

"Hello!?" She sounded close. She was probably behind one of the cars. "It's ok! I'm here to help! Where are you?!" I got no answer, just the same sobbing carrying itself across the freeway. "Come on, it's alright. I promise I'm not one of them." I tried to be as reassuring as I could. She must have been scared out of her mind right now. The whole situation had caused the poor girl to just break down. Lord knew I was getting close. I was seeing a human being more often in the Infected I killed. When would it finally be too much?

I finally pinned the sobbing down somewhere behind a green Kremlin. I was pretty excited to finally find another human in this wasteland. "It's ok," I said as I edged around the car, "just stick with me and you'll be al-" My gun's flashlight landed on her face and I was greeted with an ear-piercing scream. "No! It's ok! I'm not one of them!" But even as I said that I realized she wasn't. Her eyes were shining red, her skin was as gray as the other infected, and her fingers weren't even fingers at all; just black knife-like claws. She was almost naked, wearing nothing but soiled underwear. And her hair was a platinum blond. She looked to be almost my age. She was kind of pretty...but I didn't have time to admire it since she was running straight at me with those sharp fingers of hers. I immediately turned tail and ran as she chased me down, her arms spread wide open on both sides. She was surprisingly fast and was catching up to me almost effortlessly. I would have shot her had I not been afraid of tripping on something from running backwards. She was making this weird little warbling shriek that sounded like a cat getting in a fight. "Get away! What did I do to you, you crazy bitch!?" I screamed, even though I knew she didn't understand me. We'd ran for a good minute when I realized the freeway dead ended. There was a large shipping container lying on its side diagonally so that it blocked the whole freeway. It must have come loose from a semi truck. All I knew was that it was too tall and if I kept running I'd be stuck and at her mercy. _God damn it, God! Why do you hate me!?_ But all wasn't lost. An SUV was parked a little way from the container; parked so that its backside faced the container. Without hesitation I ran up the hood of the car and onto the roof. Picking up what little speed I could, I ran and jumped, narrowly missing the container and landing on my chest. I was stuck for a second with my legs dangling below, but hearing that demon girl's cat shriek made me muster all of my strength and pull myself up onto the large metal crate. The girl shrieked and grunted as she tried to jump up after me. After hopping and clawing in vain, she eventually gave up and slumped down on her knees, crying as she had when I first found her. It was almost as if not killing me had put her into a deep depression. Out of all the mutants, this one took the cake. What could be more dangerous than a predator that feigned helplessness. At least that's what I thought at the time. I didn't realize the truth until later. It was at that moment that I remembered the writing on the wall: Ignore the crying girls.

"Ignore the crying girls, got it." That was the last time I went to help any crying girl. But I once again found myself wondering what she had been like before the apocalypse. At least the sobbing she made seemed to convey what she would most likely feel like if she knew what she had become. I had just composed myself when I heard yet another sound that I knew right then had to be trouble.

It was a coughing fit. Like someone around cigarette smoke. I was just about to turn towards the sound when the coughing voice screamed, which was followed by a wet flicking noise. Suddenly something wrapped itself around my body and pulled me off the container. It was like someone had tied a lasso around me and was dragging me across the concrete. I was pulled across the ground until I slammed into a cop car. The coughing noise was just above me, and I looked up to see a zombie in a green jacket and jeans. He was covered in hideous tumors, and a greenish yellow smoke seemed to be emanating from his body. His mouth was wide open to make room for his massive tongue, which was wrapped around my body! He opened his mouth wider and his tongue began to retract, pulling me closer to him.

"Oh, fuck you, Smokey! It's too early!" I shouted as I fired a pistol shot into his face. A puff of smoke exploded from his body as he gave a soft grunt. His tongue gave a ton of slack and let me go.

As I pulled the slimy thing off of me I realized this was one hell of a morning. I looked at my watch and saw that it was only half past eight. "I'd call it productive if I do say so myself. Covered in zombie attracting puke, almost gutted by a demon in the guise of a helpless girl, and almost crushed by a zombie's tongue, and I'm still alive! Booyah!" I pumped my fist and smiled as I continued down the freeway. That was true. Despite all this shit being thrown at me I was still alive. But for how much longer? And as I continued down the freeway I could still hear that girl crying. It followed me down the freeway and was still ringing in my ear as I reached Anaheim. Was luring in unsuspecting survivors to her the only reason she cried? I wouldn't find out for sure until I met Sabrina.

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3 Wicked Witch of the West Coast

_**Chapter 3: The Wicked Witch of the West Coast**_

Author's Note: Alright, finally got this out. Sorry it took so long, my editor sucks ass. I hope you all enjoy after such a long wait, and a merry Christmas to you all!

After what must have been hours, I finally made it. Disneyland: Happiest Place in Hell. I just hoped to god there really was a helicopter here, otherwise my two day trek over here was a complete waste of time. I shook the thought out of my head and continued down the freeway onto Disneyland Drive.I walked a little bit towards the on ramp into Disneyland and decided to take a quick look in a convenience store nearby. I found the place pretty picked over, but I still managed to find a few bags of Combos and a bottle of Arizona Ice Tea. Briefly thought about looting the register, but for some reason it just didn't feel right despite the circumstances. Besides,thing was probably empty anyway. I made my way up to the park via the road that led to the parking garage. I decided to take the fork that led to Downtown Disney, considering I'd probably find more supplies at a shopping district than a Parking Garage.

It was a pretty long walk and not without an Infected or two. I passed the yellow sign that said "Downtown Disney" in bright red letters and into the large parking lot. I could see the Mexican style temple of the Rainforest Cafe in the distance, as well as the modern ESPN Zone building. There were abandoned cars littering the whole lot, most of them parked wherever they had been left. There were a few Infected wandering around the lot, but they wouldn't be too much of a problem. A few of them saw me and began charging. I shot at one of them dressed in an ESPN Zone uniform, but I missed and hit the car behind him. Unfortunately, that car still had its alarm on. BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP! The shrill beeping of the alarm rang through the air, and so did the collective scream of a horde of Infected. After I killed the Infected I'd been trying to, I listened to the alarm and the screaming and realized what was happening.

From all over the lot a swarm of Infected started running towards the alarm...which I was right in front of. These things were coming out of the woodwork, and here I was without a pipe bomb. I switched to the shotgun and got into the bed of a large black truck. I blew away as many as I could while the car alarm's screech echoed to every Infected in the area. I was still getting used to reloading this thing, so I almost got overwhelmed three times. I did my best to hold my own against them, but there were so many of them that I had to abandon ship. After what felt like centuries the alarm stopped, which meant all I had to do was get rid of these ones and I'd be safe....for the moment. I ran like a bat out of hell with the swarm on my heels. Luckily I found two sedans parked end to end with each other that would make a perfect barricade.

I quickly jumped over one of them and got my shotgun out, ready for a final stand. I blew away any that I saw coming close, and was very thankful that these things didn't need to be killed with head shots. I'd just took out all but one and my gun was empty. Before I could reload the last one jumped me and tried to beat on me. I grabbed my shotgun by the barrel and smashed the zombie's head in with the gun's butt. Its head blew open and I was finally alone. Exhausted and alone. I walked the rest of the lot as I reloaded my weapon.

Upon reaching Downtown I found that it was a mess. Most of the doors to the stores had been smashed open and the insides were completely picked over and trashed from looters. I had to step over a heap of dead infected that were piled in front of a Humvee with a mounted gun. Inside the Humvee were two dead soldiers, beaten to a complete pulp and covered in scratches. I didn't have to guess what happened here: a last stand that had obviously failed. Gripped in the hands of one of the soldiers was an M-16. It was very tempting but I had no more room in my pack for it. From what I could see of the stores, my prospects looked bleak.

I looked at the Monorail Station next to the Rainforest Cafe and briefly thought about walking the rails into Disneyland, but I quickly dismissed that idea. I could tell from the streetlights I'd been seeing earlier that some areas of the wasteland still had power, and therefore the rails might. I could get electrocuted. Even worse was the idea of slipping and falling into the concrete below. And then I thought about the false ocean in Tomorrowland that the rail went over, as well as the fact that I couldn't swim. Nope. Scratch that idea.

Besides, I still needed supplies. I passed the ESPN Zone and walked towards the Compass Books ahead of me. I had to admit, besides shooting some zombies every five minutes, the zombie apocalypse was pretty boring. Maybe I could find a good read? Nope. The place was completely picked over. Every shelf was empty. The neat decorations around the place that made the store look like an adventurer's library were smashed all over the carpet. The weird scientific instruments, the tiger skin and spears; all destroyed. The cafe section wasn't any cheerier. The display case for the cakes and pastry were smashed open and the goodies were long gone. I exited the bookstore feeling kinda bummed. Were all of the other stores going to be like this? Was this all a waste of time?

But as I left I glanced to my left and saw one of the three tall buildings that made the Disneyland Hotel. Of course! I could go through people's abandoned luggage in the hotel!Not only could I find something in the kitchens but in the rooms too. I did feel kind of guilty thinking about rummaging through people's luggage, but they weren't going to need it and I did. If there was no helicopter at Disneyland I was going to need some extra supplies, and I'd find them anyway I could.

I turned to the left and walked under the giant sorcerer's hat that served as the gateway into the hotel, whose star supports were smeared in blood. In the hotel courtyard were a few Infected that were easily killed and avoided. Out of the three buildings that made the hotel, I picked the one at the East side, facing the parks. I passed by the Neverland pool, which looked very depressing without any water. But it wasn't the lack of water that got my attention. It was the trumpeting howl I heard from the pool's direction.

I turned around just in time to see what looked like a bald hillbilly in overalls with an enormous right arm barreling toward me from the pool. Luckily his arm was too big for the pool gate, so he got stuck for a second, which gave me the opportunity I needed to run inside the hotel. But of course he broke free in no time and started chasing me again. Remembering how huge his arm was kept me running, cuz lord knew I didn't want to get grabbed by that bicep; it was bigger than I was! I ran around a divider wall with the Sleeping Beauty Castle on it. Behind it I saw an elevator ahead, but it was closed and there was no way I was going to be able to wait. The bull charged right through the wall and towards me. At the last minute I turned to the right and ran for what I hoped to be a staircase door. And as I did I heard a tremendous WHAM! I dared a look behind me and saw that the bald bull had charged right into the elevator door, crumpling it like tin foil._Thank God that wasn't me._ He seemed to be dazed from the crash, so I opened the door and ducked inside, thankful that it was a staircase.

The bull didn't follow me; I guess he must have hit the door harder than I thought. I decided I'd search every floor and room I could get to. It would be pretty tedious work, but it had to be done. I started with the first floor, which was completely trashed. Doors busted off their hinges, luggage strewn across the rooms and hallway, there were even some holes smashed in the walls. Most likely those bald bulls. My search took forever and wasn't very fruitful. The best I found was a tool bag in the hallway which had a pair of bolt cutters I could use in case I came across a padlock. After about an hour I continued my way up the floors still finding barely anything. I was starting to get really tired and had to take a breather or two on a few of the hotel room beds. I realized I hadn't really stopped to rest since getting out of Duke's that morning.

I was exhausted. But I couldn't stop now. I was so close to escape. I had to keep going. But I decided this would be the only one of the three buildings I'd scour for supplies. This would just wear me down if I continued like this for two more structures. I kept going until I reached the seventh floor, and by that time I'd collected the bolt cutters, another pistol, and a bag of beef jerky (still sealed). But still, this wasn't the stockpile of supplies I'd been hoping for. I was just about done with the seventh floor when I heard what I swore was maniacal laughter.

I could already tell from experience so far that that wasn't good. Any human sounding noise from this wasteland usually meant one of those mutated zombies. And sure enough, emerging from a room at the end of the hall was a hunchbacked little bastard that looked like the love child of Quasimodo and Gollum. He had a nasty growth on his back that made him hunch over and that was so large it burst out of his white shirt. He had balding sandy hair and his mouth was full of overgrown teeth that had torn his mouth open from the pressure. His arms and legs seemed a lot longer than usual, and he wore a tiny pair of teal shorts, which kinda creeped me out a little bit. When he saw me he burst into more evil laughter, and bounded towards me like a monkey.

I opened fire with my shotgun, but he was really wily and dodged every shot. As soon as he was close enough he pounced onto my shoulders and wrapped his legs around my chest and his arms around my arms. The monkey had me under his control like a puppet, and he proceeded to pull on my arms in order to direct me wherever he wanted. I still had my shotgun clutched tight, but with him holding onto my arms there was no way for me to bring the gun over to him and fire. I tried my hardest to fight against his pull but it was like fighting the wind. After a good minute of struggling I heard another twisted human sound from one of the rooms: a wet snarl from what sounded like a woman. The monkey seemed to recognize the noise because he directed me into that room and right in front of the ugliest zombie I'd seen yet.

She was a skeletal abomination dressed in white underclothes with pigtails in her dark hair. Her mouth was stretched grotesquely, and there was green shit dripping from her mouth like drool mixed with a green apple lollipop. With a cough, she spat this green shit onto the carpet which made a big bubbling puddle that the monkey seemed very keen to steer me into. As the puddle ate into floor I realized in horror that the green shit was acid! I tried to fight him off one more time, but he gave a very hard tug that sent me stumbling into the puddle. Before I felt the pain I know I was about to, I fell. I fell right through the floor.

Apparently the acid was way too strong to stay bubbling on the floor and had started to eat a hole through it. I landed in the hotel room below, free of the monkey's grasp. He jumped off before I'd fallen, and now he stood hunched over the hole I'd just made, laughing at me as if he thought me almost being devoured by acid was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. I grabbed my shotgun from the floor and fired a round into his stupid smiling face. Immediately his laughing stopped. I wanted to punish that spitting thing too, but her snarling sounded distant, so she probably realized I'd do her in too and got the hell out of Dodge.

Giving an irritated sigh, I collapsed onto the bed and decided I'd sleep here...until I heard the sound of a girl growling. The curtains were covering the window so it was kind of dark, but I didn't need any lights to see the shining red eyes of the demon in disguise that had nearly gutted me early that morning. Not the same one of course, but the same kind. She had the same black claws, the same red eyes, the same white hair and skin and lack of overclothes. And as I could see right now, the same bad attitude.

She was slumped on her knees in front of the closed door, and seeing me fall through the ceiling and into her quiet place apparently pissed her off.

"Grrrrrr. Grrrrrrrrr." Her red eyes locked on mine as she growled at me threateningly and pushed her body back and forth as if she was getting ready to attack if I gave her an excuse to. I scooted back across the bed and against the headboard. I pulled my legs into my chest and nervously kept eye contact with the Witch.

"It's alright, easy girl. Didn't mean to disturb you. " She growled for a few more seconds, but then seemed to get bored and just turned back towards the door, crying. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned my attention to the hole in the ceiling. I was going to have to get out of here, and since she was in front of the door the hole was my only other way out. It was a few feet in front of the bed, and too high up to reach from the floor. I tried using the chair in front of the desk but it still wasn't tall enough. I then tried moving the bed but after only a few inches I collapsed with my face in the comforter and gave up. Way too heavy. I was stuck.

She was in front of the only exit in this room. If I walked anywhere near her she would get angry again and try to seriously maim me. I could try shooting her, but the day's work had been chipping away at my ammo. I only had a box of shotgun shells and a clip of handgun ammo. I really didn't want to risk wasting it on this pretty little demon. And what if she was stronger than she looked? I'd only get maybe two rounds in and she'd have me on the floor as well as all over the walls.

"FUCK!" I shouted. This startled the girl and she started growling again. "Uh, sorry." She calmed down again and continued to cry some more. "What are you so upset about anyway?" I muttered. "Sure you're an inhuman abomination, but you don't have to worry about these things killing you. You don't have to constantly watch your back and fight for your life every second of every day. In fact, next to that tank-like monstrosity you're probably one of the stronger mutants I've come across. What do you have to cry about?! Even Gollum up there could manage a laugh! He enjoys killing the remnants of humanity. Yet here you are, sitting in the dark and sobbing. You're kinda like those emo kids I'd see in high school. Always bitching about how fucked up there lives were and how if they died no body would bat an eye, blah blah fuckin' blah! If anyone should be crying it should be me. I hate people...but I woulda never asked for this. Do you even have any emotions anymore!? Do you have any memories?! Do you remember who you used to be?! Who your parents were?! Who your friends were?!.....But then again maybe that's why you're crying."

I looked at her almost as if I expected her to answer. But instead she just kept crying. I just shook my head. What the fuck was that all about? Did I really expect her to be listening? She probably couldn't even understand English anymore! I'd been around zombies for way too long! I just sighed and collapsed back on the bed. Things really looked bleak, but I couldn't just give up. Not when I'd gotten so far and come so close to escape. I just lied there thinking of ways to get out. I could always try to get onto the balcony below and through the room it led to. I could either drop and grab the railing or tie the bed sheets together to make a rope. But I knew neither would work. I could barely hang onto monkey bars, let alone a railing I'd have to grab by falling ten feet from above. And I couldn't tie knots to save my life. That thing would come undone and I'd go falling the whole five stories down.

I groaned and buried my head into the soiled pillow on the bed ***ew***, opening my eyes seemingly a second later to find the whole room pitch black. I must have conked out. I was more tired than I thought. The only light in the room came from the girl's eyes, which sent a shudder down my spine. She was of course still sobbing and hadn't moved away from the door. It was at this point that I first noticed that the room really stunk. It was almost as bad as the fat guy vomit. It kinda smelled like roadkill...just worse. Was the Witch shitting herself or something**? **Speaking of, I needed to use the restroom too. Had to for a while, I'd just been holding it. I got off the bed and started to walk to the restroom with the Witch growling at me again.

"Relax, I just have to shit. You know you can be a real witch sometimes." She calmed down again, but this time right away. Did she....understand what I'd just said? No. Definitely not. As I entered the bathroom the smell got even worse. It was when I flicked on the light that I saw why. The entire bathroom was splashed in blood. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling. At my feet were two dead bodies whose chests were so badly torn apart that I didn't even have to guess what did this to them. The culprit was sitting right outside crying. As badly torn apart as their torsos were, I could still see their dried up faces. They were a man and a woman, both middle-aged. The man was dressed in a blue turtle neck and black slacks, and the woman was in a red flannel jacket and blue jeans. Their intestines were strewn across their bodies and the floor. Upon seeing and smelling this gruesome seen I rushed to the toilet, almost slipping on the blood, and hurled in it. This was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen in my life. After I was done I did what I should have when I first got caught in this nightmare: I cried. I cried so fucking hard. Just as hard as the zombie girl outside. Why? Why was this happening? Had we really failed so much in God's eyes that he saw fit to punish us like this?! He loves us my ass!

After that I did what I came in to do, closing my eyes and breathing through my mouth. After that I wiped, flushed, and washed my hands. As I went to leave, I noticed for the first time that the door was halfway off its hinges and had a massive hole in it. Just what the fuck had happened here?

I turned the light out and walked to the sliding glass door and opened it to get some air in and get that awful stench out. I felt the cold air on my face and looked out onto the hotel grounds. A few zombies were still stumbling about and I could even see that charging thing wandering around the outside gate of the pool. Would this be the last time I'd ever come here? Would Disneyland be my resting place? I remember coming here all the time with my now estranged family. Even though I hated the crowds I'd always loved this place. I drove here whenever I had time off. It was my happy place, my place to get away. And now it was going to be my grave. Not wanting to think about it anymore, I went back to the bed and pulled one of the burgers out of my bag. Despite what I'd just seen I was pretty hungry. I almost offered the other burger to the Witch (hm...Witch. Yeah, that sounded about right.) until I reminded myself what she was. God damn I was lonely. If I ever did make it out alive I was going to get a life and make some friends. Fuck being a lone wolf. After finishing the burger I tossed the wrapper into the waste bin and curled into the soiled covers. Despite the sobbing noise, I was able to fall asleep again due to my exhaustion.

Once again I seemed to have been out for only a second when I opened my eyes and was greeted by the slight comfort of daylight. Once again my roommate was crying, but by now I was starting to get used to it. I got out of the covers and reached for my bag to get a clean change of clothes, when I realized I didn't have one. I really needed a shower, I was starting to feel really grimy. But the nearest shower was sprayed in human bean juice and stunk like a dead skunk. I didn't really think that would make me any cleaner. I wouldn't feel cleaner anyway. I instead took out the bag of jerky and had it as a small breakfast. I hated to have to eat so unhealthy, but fruits and veggies weren't exactly easy to come by right now.

After that the day dragged painfully slow. The TV showed nothing but the Emergency Broadcast system. So since there was no TV I had nothing to do except stare out into the courtyard outside; observing the new inhabitants of this world. Eventually I said fuck it and just lied on the bed staring at the hole in the ceiling. It was so frustrating being so close to an exit and not being able to use it.

I'd come so fucking far! Was I about to just die right here?!

"If I do it's all your fault!" I muttered to the Witch. "Have to be so fucking high strung. I'm not going to hurt you so why do want to hurt me?! Bitch....I'm going to die in here and it's all your FAULT!!!" I shouldn't have yelled like that. She gasped and turned to me, a snarl building in her throat. "Shit. Sorry, didn't mean it....Ok I did, but still, cut me a break! This is exactly what I'm talking about! You hurt anyone who gets close to you! Just like your parents... God damn it what happened to this world? War and poverty wasn't enough? A zombie apocalypse had to thrown into the mix too? People turning into blood thirsty raving lunatics that turn on their own family… fuck you, God." By this time the Witch had stopped growling. In fact, she hadn't been making any noise at all. I turned to her, and to my surprise I saw that she wasn't turned with her back to me like usual, but she was staring at me. And not in that angry "get the fuck away from me before I kill you" way. It was almost as if she'd been...listening to me. No. That wasn't possible. But she was never quiet. She was always either crying or growling. And I couldn't get past that look in her eyes. Like she was curious about me. That despite being in the same room with me for about two days, she had just noticed I was here. "What? Do I have something on my face? Besides zombie blood? What's your deal?! Ah whatever. I'm goin' to bed. Go back to your corner and cry. But as I curled into my covers she never did. But I didn't really notice.

For the first time since the Infection fucked my life, I dreamed. And in my dream I was surrounded by sobbing. I was in the stretching gallery in the Haunted Mansion. Everything was the same as I knew it. The dim candlelight from the gargoyle statues above, the paintings that would soon stretch to reveal disturbing images underneath, and the walls made of wood paneling that had no obvious entrances or exits in them. The only thing that wasn't the same were the thirty something crying zombies surrounding me. Witches. They were all around me while I was in the very center of the room. There were so many of them crying at the same time that it was almost deafening. Soon the room began to stretch and I could hear the Ghost Host above.

"Your cadaverous pallor, betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as if you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hm? And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, no doors, and is crawling with depressed zombies that will tear your entrails out if you so much as sneeze. Which offers you this chilling challenge: to find, a way out! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Of course, there's always my way. Too bad it will be excruciatingly painful." And with that the lights went dark and a flash of lightning struck, scaring all the Witches and sending them flying at me in a crazed frenzy. This was going to hurt. One of them swiped at my chest which really stung and sent me falling on my back. As I fell I could see the hanged man hanging from the ceiling of the gallery. Except instead of being a skeleton in rotting clothes, he was a young man in a gray hoodie, black jeans, and black ball cap over messy brown hair. He was me. The Witches all ganged up on me like some sick dog pile and I shut my eyes tight to prepare for the pain that never came.

Confused, I opened up my eyes to find that I wasn't in the gallery anymore. I was in the hallway that lead to the Doombuggies. There were five paintings on the wall as always. But the paintings were very different then than the ones that were usually there. They were all paintings of the first five mutants I'd encountered so far.

In the first painting the Witch was sprawled on a bloody couch sobbing as always. But then the paint started to flake off, as if it were rotting in order to reveal another painting underneath. When it stopped flaking the painting was no longer of a Witch, but a pale young girl in black Gothic clothing writing in a diary. Tears streamed down her pretty face and the couch was no longer bloodstained. The next painting was of that huge Hulk thing I'd seen at Duke's. He was flexing his massive muscles on a lonely beach scattered with garbage. This painting started to transform too, changing into a body builder in swim trunks showing off his impressive physique while a bunch of bikini-clad hotties swooned on the clean beach behind him. Next was the very first mutant I saw, that hoodie wearing panther. He was leaping off a building with his feet tucked in and his arms out, ready to land on the next building as the full moon shined behind him. It changed into a less gray version of the same person, this time with an excited smile on his face instead of that ugly snarl. It was broad daylight and a cop pointed at him but was unable to get to him. Then came that fat thing. He sat on a living room couch and...puked on everything. Yeah. This one was disgusting. What it changed into was better but not by much. He was still fat, just without those hideous warts and bumps on his body. He sat on the couch munching on Cheetos as the bag rested on his large stomach. A bunch of other half-eaten foods lied on the couch around him such as Wendy's, Pizza-Hut, Chinese take-out, and KFC. Geez. No wonder this guy was always puking. And finally there was that guy with the insanely long tongue. He stood on a rooftop next to a water tower; that tongue of his shooting into the alley below. But when it changed he was just this ratty looking dude smoking a cigarette as he leaned against the water tower.

OK, so what did all of this mean? They were all zombies and now they were people.

"So? What's the point?" I asked out loud.

"Boy, if you can't figure that out you're even dumber than you look!" A deep voice with a Southern accent mocked me from the end of the hall. I turned to the end to see that the two busts that sat in two little alcoves at the end of the hall didn't look as they normally did either, but instead looked like that Bald Bull and that gross woman who spit out acid. The Charger was the one who spoke, and he continued. "You see all them folks? The ones you been killin' this whole time?"

"Uh… yeah. They're kinda hard to miss."

"Well did it ever occur to you that they had lives before this shit went down?!"

"Yeah, pretty much after everyone I kill." I still had no idea where this was going.

"You enjoy it too don't you, you sick pervert?!" This time the Spitter spoke up, and she was livid. "You get off on slaughtering them like cows! They used to be people too ya know?!"

"Excuse me?! I'm doing this to survive, you redneck bitch! Joy has nothing to do with this! Besides, they aren't people anymore!"

"Oh, is that all?! Is that what you think?! Did it ever occur to you they might have feelings?! Like that poor little girl you currently room with; did you ever think about what makes her retain such a human emotion as sadness?!" I was silent for a moment. But then I answered back quietly:

"I do. I've racked my brain and I can't for the life of me figure out why she still cries."

"Not gonna do you much good any more, boy!" The Charger jeered. "You're SOL now! Tyler Smith, for the crime of murder, we find you-" Both he and the Spitter took a deep breath before screaming:

"GUILTY!!!" I had to cover my ears to against such a loud scream. Before I could ask what the sentence was, I heard a very familiar laugh. I reluctantly turned to the door way where the Doombuggies were, and saw that hunchbacked weirdo hunched over in the doorway, except half of his face was missing.

"Hee hee hee hee hee! Now's my chance! Now's my chance to get you back you son' bitch!" Before I could stop him he was on me again. I reached to the busts for help, but they only laughed at my imminent demise. The Jockey pulled and tugged at my arms until I was at the doorway to the Doombuggies. Except they weren't there. Nothing was. Just a yawning hole of emptiness. I fought as hard as I could, even pleading with my jury.

"Come on! They're not human! They're not human damn it! It's only self def-" I wasn't able to finish, because the Jockey gave one final tug on my arms and I fell into the emptiness, the Jockey's laughter ringing in my ears as I spiraled into the dark.

My eyes shot open as I was happy to see that my death plunge was just an awful nightmare. Was all of that true? Was I committing murder? I seriously needed some therapy if I ever survived this. I turned over on my bed and came face to face with a pair of red eyes. The Witch was on her knees next to my bed, staring at me again. Needless to say this scared the ever loving shit out of me and sent me rolling away from her on off my bed.

"What the hell!" I whispered angrily at her. "You want nothing to do with me unless I invade your personal space and now you're watching me sleep?! What the hell's the matter with you!?" She of course said nothing and just continued to stare at me. But I noticed something different about her: she wasn't crying again. For the second time since I'd been stuck with her she wasn't sobbing. But it was also really weird that she was so close to me. What the hell was up with that? Deciding it wasn't worth worrying about, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and noticed that the sun was out again.

I looked out on the hotel grounds to see the same straggling zombies wandering the courtyard. _What a lovely morning in this apocalyptic wasteland. Wait a minute, if that thing is no longer in front of the door....that means I can finally GTFO! _I turned to grab my bag and make a run for it. But I turned only to find the Witch's face in mine again. "Jesus!" I shouted as I fell back on my ass and into the balcony railing. "What is your damage!?" Of course I didn't get an answer, but instead she was on both feet and was slowly walking toward me with her clawed hand reaching for me. "Wait, what are you doing? Get back!" I'd left all my weapons in my bag. If she was finally deciding that she should kill me I was done for. I closed my eyes tight and turned my head away. _Oh please make it quick. Please make it quick._

But instead of having my stomach ripped open, I felt something pointy gently stroking my face and brushing my hair out of my eyes. I opened one eye to see her on her knees again, using her black index claw to stroke my face. Her face was expressionless, but it almost looked curious. As if she was noticing me for the first time and wanted to know what I was. I just sat there dumbfounded. Was this the same kind of monster that almost killed me for shining a flashlight in her face? Now one of them was using her deadly claws to do something gentle. And I let her do it. Not much of a choice. But then again it kinda felt good to be sharing this kind of interaction with someone else. Zombie or otherwise. After a little bit I slowly but my hand up to her arm and kept it there for a second.

"May I?" Once again she said nothing, but she looked at my hand almost longingly, so I took that as a yes and took hold of her wrist. Her skin was kinda clammy, but other than that it felt like normal human skin. She then took that hand in hers and pulled it to her face, nuzzling it with her cheek. I was kinda getting weirded out here. What was going through her mind? Was she just as lonely as I was? After doing that for a long while, she let go of my hand sat down against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her waist and she placed her arms on my arms. I was spooning a zombie. The world made no fucking sense anymore.

But still, this was the closest to human interaction I'd had in almost four days. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, no matter how bizarre it was. We sat there for the longest time, just me and my zombie. I had no idea what would happen next, but little did I know I'd just made the most important friend I could ever make in this wasteland.

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4: Happiest Place in Hell

**Chapter 4: Happiest Place in Hell**

_Author's Note: I am so sorry this took so long!__ But I thank all of you for your patience and your devotion to this story. I love you all. ^_^ Now, for this chapter, I wanna thank one of my readers Xmodius for inspiring me with a scene from his L4D Christmas Carol story. A scene involving Boomer Bile and a Tank. Just wanted to give him proper credit. Anyway, hope you all enjoy, and this is second to the last! Last chapter after this!_**  
**

The Witch and I lied on the bed together, her back against my chest and my arms around her stomach. She held on to my arms tightly and almost seemed to be purring. I really should have been grossed out, but I wasn't. I'd been alone for so long that it felt good to be this close to someone who didn't want to rip my innards out. Believe it or not we'd spent a good deal of the morning like this. I'd tried to get away from her once or twice but when I did she started to give me that familiar growl of hers. Just a few days ago she made that growl whenever she wanted me away from her, and now she was using it when I tried to leave her? Tough zombie to please.

"You are so fucking weird." I told her. "Tell me to fuck off the first two days we're together and now you can't be more than an inch away from me. Well, if we're gonna be tight now, you might as well have a name. How 'bout.....Sabrina?" Her arms tightened on mine and I took that as a yes. Yeah I know, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, fucking lame. Cut me some slack, she looked like a Sabrina...and she was a Witch so...it kinda worked.

I was feeling really relaxed and almost fell asleep once or twice. Her purring was very soothing. But every time I did almost drift, the shriek of an Infected would always jerk me back to cruel reality. Well...almost cruel. I took a look at my watch and saw that it was one in the afternoon. As much as I was enjoying this, I really had to get going. That hypothetical helicopter would only wait for so long, and I'd wasted two and a half days already. I tried to pull away from Sabrina again, but her arms held mine tight.

"Come on, I'm sorry to rain on your parade but I really have to get going." She refused to let go and started growling again. "Oh, don't pull that! As much fun as this is I can't just stay down here cuddling with the undead for the remainder of my possibly short life." She growled even louder and held my arms so tight it was starting to hurt. Finally I managed to get free and fell off the bed and onto the ground. I immediately grabbed my bag and got my gun ready. I started to run for the door when I heard a very familiar noise I hadn't heard for almost a day: a girl sobbing.

I turned around to see that Sabrina had started crying again. But instead of keeping her back turned to me as usual, she was looking right at me with those deep red eyes. Almost as if she was pleading with me not to leave. "Oh, that's not fair. Come on, don't do that." I walked back to the bed and knelt beside her. "Sab...I can't stay here. I have a life...OK on second thought I have no life to get back to, but I'd like to make one you know? I mean, I'd stay here with you if I could, but I don't have enough food or resources to spend the rest of my life here." Her sobbing got quieter, but she was still teary eyed. I thought for a second, and came to a decision.

"Want to come with me?" She stopped crying all together and stared at me wide eyed. She was starting to understand me wasn't she? I took her black clawed hand and led her off the bed. "Yeah, I could use a survival partner. Help me out and who knows, maybe we can be together." Of course I knew this was probably bullshit. We were probably both dead anyway, but I didn't want to leave her here. Whatever got her to come with me. She squeezed my hand in hers and started purring again. I squeezed her hand back and then let go of it. "Alright, so it's official. Stay close, OK?" Then she did something that blew my mind apart: she fucking nodded! I actually stood there dumbfounded for a second before clearing my head of the weirdness that just happened. "Right, uh...Let's get going then."

With Sabrina close behind, I opened the front door and cautiously peeked into the hallway. I had now completely abandoned my search for supplies and decided to just get the hell out of here. I'd just found a door to a stairway when Sabrina started growling. I turned to her to see that she was facing the hallway in the direction we'd come out of and was hunched over in an attack position. She sensed something coming and she was ready to fight it. "Come on, Sab, we don't have time for-" I was immediately cut off by a familiar trumpeting howl. That bald bull thing had seen us and was barreling down the hallway with his arm out like a battering ram. I was about to pull Sabrina into the stairway with me, but the crazy Witch gave a loud shriek and took off running towards the bull! What the hell was she thinking?! She was shorter than me! And I was barely five and a half feet! That thing she was playing chicken with was not only taller, but his arm was bigger than both of us if she was sitting on my shoulders!

"Sabrina!" I shouted to no avail. Just as the two zombies were about to collide with one another, Sabrina jumped into the air with her right arm back, and then she shot it forward so her claws went right into the Bull's head! As soon as his brain ceased to function it was like watching a car losing control on a frozen road. He writhed and twitched in agony before crashing to the floor and sliding forward on his face for a few feet. Sabrina had landed on her feet and looked down at the Bull almost in disgust before walking back to me. I was speechless. I'd just seen a zombie pull a Wolverine on another zombie! All I could think to say to her was, "That was fucking incredible!" She just stared at me blankly and waited for me to lead the way.

I shook my head clear of the awesomeness I'd just seen and led the way down the stairs. I didn't stop until we got to the bottom floor where I'd first been chased by the Bald Bull. I wondered if it was the same one Sabrina had just killed. We left the hotel and into the courtyard where several Infected were waiting for us. I wasted half of them with my shotgun while Sabrina went to work on them with her claws. After we were finished it was obvious to see which zombies had been killed by who. Mine all had missing heads or stomachs, while Sabrina's looked like they'd been run through a meat grinder. She walked back to me with her claws dripping in blood. It was weird how comfortable she seemed to be tearing up her brethren. But maybe she didn't see them as family, Just a threat to our well-being.

We left the courtyard and walked back into Downtown Disney. It looked just as it had a few days before, but now a few more Infected had wandered into it. I was still running low on ammo, and I tried to get Sab to ignore them. She refused at first, but I dragged her forcefully down the street and away from the zombies. She growled at them as we passed, and they screamed back but seemed weary about coming after us. Almost as if Sab made them nervous. But a sharp snarl told me one of them wasn't intimidated by a Witch.

In about a split second I could see the hoodie-wearing panther shooting straight at me. He was nearly on me before Sabrina shot in front of me like a bullet and grabbed the panther by the front of his hoodie. His momentum carried her with him and slammed into me, but instead of being at his mercy I was just a bit dazed. I turned to Sab and the Panther, and saw that he was getting a taste of his own medicine. Sabrina was sitting on top of him and was clawing bits of his chest out. He tried to fight back but it was no use; she'd already won.

She stepped off of his lifeless corpse and growled at the other Infected. They yelled back, but didn't dare approach us. She'd just dispatched one of their toughest "soldiers", and now they wanted nothing to do with her. And therefore nothing do with me either. I was so stunned I stood there with my mouth open. I'd spent days fighting for my life every second and now that Sabby was here the Infected didn't even want to come anywhere near us. It was like I had my own bodyguard. So far she'd been pretty good against a Bull and a Panther, but how would she fare against the bigger foes like the Hulk and Gollum?

I decided not to think about at that moment. I was sure she'd give them the fight of their undead lives, but it still might have been futile. Right now we had to worry about getting out of this place in one piece. We passed the nervous but angry Infected and familiar landmarks like the Lego store and Tortilla Joe's. We then approached the House of Blues at the end of the street that made Downtown Disney. Next to it was the Build-A-Bear Workshop and the street bent a bit to the right past there. We got closer to the Workshop when I heard a familiar coughing noise somewhere above us.

"Jesus fuck! Is every mutant I've met in this one street!?" Before I could get an answer, a wet flick sounded off above me and a slimy tongue wrapped itself around my body once again. It drug me towards Build-A-Bear with me struggling in vain. "Sabrina! Get me ou-" Before I could finish I was already on the ground with the tongue lying in a heap around me. I was then pulled up by the hood of my sweatshirt and dragged away from the Workshop. I was about to start struggling and screaming again when I realized it was just Sabrina. She'd just saved my ass again.

"Uh....thanks." She said nothing but grabbed my hand and led me further down the street. We'd barely gone a few yards when the ground shook beneath our feet. It could have been an earthquake, but I knew better. It was the Hulk; that thing that threw a chunk of concrete at me. Sabby growled and was about to tackle him, but I pulled her back. It was coming right at us and we weren't gonna be able to squeeze past him. I thought about turning back but he'd still chase us down.

I quickly turned my head to the right and saw the shops that were built underneath the Grand Californian Hotel. It was a huge, avocado-green cabin that was built next to Disney's California Adventure. Above the shops it was built on top of I could see some of the rooms with very nice balcony decks overlooking the shopping district. It looked like a very nice hotel, but I wasn't looking it over to admire it. I knew there was an entrance into it from Downtown, and that there was an exit from the hotel into Disney's California Adventure. If we could make it into the hotel and then into DCA, we could go out the entrance and hopefully into the Disney Park. And hopefully we could lose the Hulk in there.  
Luckily I found it, a large tunnel with a wrought iron gate that read Grand Californian Hotel. The gate would have been a problem if it hadn't been smashed in and lying uselessly on the ground. Dragging Sabrina with me I booked it all the way across the street towards the tunnel. The Hulk roared and I could hear the sound of concrete being torn out of the ground.

"Run faster!" I yelled at Sabrina as we reached the tunnel. "He's got asphalt!" We scrambled over the wrecked gate just as the Hulk grunted and his over-sized rock whistled through the air at us. Before I could even think, Sabrina tackled me and held me to the ground as the chunk of street landed on the spot I had been barely a second before. I was about to thank her for saving my worthless ass for the billionth time, but she'd already dragged me to my feet and was dragging me into the small courtyard outside the Grand Californian. Well, it only looked small from the tunnel, but when we reached it we saw that it was actually pretty long and stretched pretty far to our left.

I'm sure the courtyard was beautiful at one point, but the plants and grass were now starting to wilt without anybody to water them. I quickly glanced at the left end of the courtyard hoping to find the exit to DCA, but all that was there was a dining area full of destroyed tables and chairs. Obviously we had to go inside the hotel first. But even before that, we had to get rid of the Hulk. Sabby was still looking for a fight, but I wasn't going to have her take the risk.

I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her through the courtyard trying to weave in and out of the planters and trees hoping the Hulk would get confused. But it seemed he had his own way of solving problems: tearing apart anything that got in his way. His enormous arms were more than huge enough to tear trees out of their planters or knock them out of the way with a devastating back-hand.

"Gotta move, gotta move!" I yelled as I pulled Sabrina into a large hallway that led into the hotel. On the other side was an enormous lobby that looked like a Winter cabin on steroids. The floor was set in a beautiful floral pattern that stretched over the entire lobby. Wooden chandeliers hung from the cathedral-like ceiling. On one side of the lobby was a huge stone fireplace that could have fit four SUV's, but on closer inspection it was actually a lounging area set in front of a regular size fireplace. It was just made to look like a huge fireplace. Cool. But I didn't have time to admire the lovely architecture, because that raging beast was still behind us.

We jumped over and weaved around upturned chairs and a destroyed wood piano, hauling ass to the far end of the lobby towards a large ornate doorway. I chanced a look behind me and saw that the Hulk was getting ready to throw a sofa at us!

"Shit! Take cover!" I yanked Sab to the right and we both narrowly avoided the flying couch, which crashed right through a once lovely stained glass window. "Fuck off, Arnold! I'm not going down so easy!" I shouted at him. We made it out the door and into the pool area, which was crawling with Infected. "Shit!" I whispered. We were seriously between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately the only way to go was forward, as the Hulk smashed through the doorway behind us. "Time to move!" I shouted as I pulled Sabby into the crowd of undead.

The pool area was huge and took up an entire courtyard. There was the main pool in the center and a kid's water slide area a bit to the south. There were shattered beach chairs all over the place and the pool was empty with dried blood smeared across the bottom. There were more Infected wandering around the bottom of the pool, and when they heard us on the surface they started started swarming like flies to get a piece of us.

I used all my weight to push past them and ducked down to make myself as hard to get as possible. Sabby decided to slash at them like Wolverine, separating them from their limbs with ease. I didn't really know where we were running to, but the beastly roaring behind us was the only incentive we needed to keep moving. I couldn't look behind me because of the labor of ducking away from the zombies, but I could tell from the sounds of breaking bones that the Hulk was still in hot pursuit and wasn't going to let his "comrades" get in the way.

Sabby had just sliced the head off of an Infected in front of us when I saw something ahead that gave me hope: an outdoor hallway with a sign reading "Entrance to Disney's California Adventure". Right there! Escape was right there in sight! Just a little further and we'd be out of here! But the journey from "here" to "there" might as well have been as long as the journey I'd made to get to Disneyland. But we weren't going to stop. We couldn't. After what felt like an eternity the zombies finally thinned out and we reached the hallway. It was pretty big, so that meant the Hulk and the horde would still be on us. This was not looking very good so far.

We barely got a foot in the tunnel when I heard a familiar sick groan. Barely a few yards ahead was the vomiting fatty. And he had his head reeled back, ready to blow his pheromone chunks on us. In a split second I grabbed Sabrina by the waist and pulled her to the ground to our left. Fatty unleashed his bile not on us, but on the Hulk behind us. He roared as he got a face full of the rancid green goo. Immediately every Infected that had been chasing us was now swarming all over the Hulk instead. None of them even acknowledged us anymore.

Well, except Fatty. He turned to us and got ready to hurl. I wasn't ready to react, but good ol' Sabrina was. She pulled from my grip and to Fatty, making a lightning fast movement with her claws and coming right back to me. It all happened so fast that neither me nor Fatty knew what happened until it was too late. Sabby pulled me away just as a hole seemed to be forming all by itself on Fatty's tumor filled stomach. Then it was like a dam had burst, because all the bile that was in that bulbous stomach shot out in a horizontal pillar right at the Hulk and the zombies. All hell then broke loose behind us, but we weren't going to be there to watch it.

Sabby took my hand and we ran towards the exit to the park as we heard the Hulk roaring in anguish behind us. But judging from the other noises of agony we heard behind us the Hulk wasn't the only one getting a serious beat down. With all of them covered in bile they were raring to tear each other apart.  
Before I thought too much about it Sabby laid her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms around mine. My body guard. My only friend. I love you Sabrina.

We left the carnage of the tunnel behind us and walked into the woods. Well, not real woods of course. We were on a cracked concrete road that cut through a wood of pine trees in front of a large red cabin. Next to the cabin stood a large wooden bear statue about the size of the Hulk wearing river rafting gear and holding a blue raft. This marked the entrance to the Grizzly River Run ride, which I was quite sure was now out of commission.

We turned left and crossed a bridge that overlooked the Grizzly River. It was long since dried out. Grizzly Peak (a fake mountain made to look like the head of a grizzly bear) rose towards the sky with it's snout pointed up and it's mouth opened in a perpetual roar. It almost looked like it was screaming in anguish at what had happened to the world. After the bridge we passed by a wooden billboard on the side of the faux road that was completely torn to hell; Maybe a Hulk with a chunk of concrete? I hoped not. One was enough for right now.

I didn't see any Infected nearby, but I could definitely hear them. So could Sabby, because she was in attack mode. As soon as we passed the billboard she had every reason to be. In front of us was Condor Flats, the area of the park that was made to look like an airfield. To our left was an enormous airplane hanger that housed the Soarin' Over California ride. To the right was a little blue garage that housed a gift shop. And right in front of us was a horde of wandering zombies. And in about five seconds they'd see us, and all of them would swarm us like a cloud of bees from a busted hive.

There was about thirty of them, two of us, and a few more shells of my boomstick left. But then I realized I had something that didn't need reloading, just like Sabrina and her deadly claws. I put my shotgun back into the bag and pulled out the aluminum bat that I realized I hadn't used since I'd picked it up from Sports Chalet. I gripped the rubber handle and gave a sideways glance to Sab. She was as ready as she'd ever be. And so was I.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch, but I'm not ready to give up. Let's get 'em." And just like that we charged at them. We weren't going to give them the upper hand. We were going to fight our way through no matter how many of them there were. My bat shattered a lot of skulls and pulverized a lot of bones. But if I was the club wielding caveman, Sabrina was the sword swinging samurai. Every one of them she slashed at they lost a limb of some kind.

Now I'm not trying to make this sound like we were totally dominating without receiving a single scratch. Sure we kicked some ass, but we got our asses beat pretty bad ourselves. I'd just dispatched an infected in a Hawaiian shirt and turned around to receive a hard smack to the nose. My eyes were bombarded with a flash of stars and I could feel something warm dripping down my chin. For a second I was dazed, but a second was all they needed. I was surrounded and they all got too close for me to use my bat. My eyes were still full of tears from my possibly broken nose and the pain was dulling my senses as well. I couldn't even tell which way was up. If I'd been alone I woulda been done for. But I wasn't.

Just when the beating I was getting was about to reach its peak of "fucking excruciating", I felt something warm splash on my face and chest. Soon the pain stopped and I had a chance to wipe my eyes. All the infected that had been pummeling me were now on the ground, most of them missing their heads. I looked down at myself to see their blood splashed all over my jacket and my cheeks. Man I'd kill for a shower right about now. My nose was in an incredible amount of pain and it was hard to focus, but seeing Sabrina look at me so expectantly made it kinda fade.

"Thanks." I told her. She nodded and we both turned out attention to the remaining Infected. There were about only ten left, and they started getting weary. But these ones weren't backing off. Once again we charged, but this battle was a lot harder than the last. But at least one of us wasn't losing our edge. Sabby was an animal. She got hit pretty bad herself, but it didn't seem to affect her. Did these things even feel pain? We were just about done when I got tackled by a strangely heavy Infected. When he pinned me to the ground I got a good look at him and saw why.

He was a cop. Not a beat cop like the one I'd seen back at the Long Beach Towne Center. This guy used to be with SWAT. He was still decked out in his armor: the flak jacket, helmet with Plexiglas visor, heavy gloves, combat boots, the works. He was really heavy, and I knew that even using my shotgun he'd be hard to kill. He started pounding me with those heavy gloves, and it felt like I was being beat by pieces of concrete. My shotgun had fallen out of my reach and this guy was just too heavy to push off. Luckily Sabrina came to my rescue once again, but not as successfully as before. Even her razor-sharp claws had trouble slicing through his thick armor.

But she managed to distract him and now he was off me. But now he had someone else to beat on. As soon as he got off of me I dove for my shotgun and took careful aim. I didn't want to accidentally hit Sabrina. When I got a clear shot I took it, blowing his leg off. He fell to the ground and helplessly clawed at Sab. I walked up to him, kicked his helmet off, and shot his head apart. He was the last one and we were finally alone. I was breathing heavily, trying to get my lungs to keep up with the rest of my body. Sabby didn't seem to be tired at all, but that was probably because she didn't need to use her lungs, being dead and all. I looked to her and smiled.

"Not bad, huh?" She looked back at me and the corners of her mouth started to twitch upwards, as if she was trying to copy my smile. "Work on it a little bit." I told her, and we continued down Condor Flats until we got to the main entrance way of DCA, Sunshine Plaza. It was a large circular courtyard with paths branching off to the other areas of the park. In the center of it was a huge golden sun statue that used to have water coming from under it, but it long since dried out. There were some stone planters in front of it that served as benches, but the plants were starting to wilt just like in the hotel. Directly ahead of us was an Egyptian-style archway to Hollywood Pictures Backlot. At least it used to be there. It was now smashed to the ground, leaving only one pillar with a lone gold elephant on top standing. To our left was a train. Not like the train at Disneyland; this one never moved. It was made to look like one of those modern trains that traveled cross-country. It housed an ice cream parlor, a bakery, and a toy store. Past the train to the left was the park entrance, exactly where we wanted to go.

Unfortunately there was another swarm of Infected wandering the Plaza. I didn't know about Sabby, but I was way too beat up for another fight. We were just going to have to run for our lives. But not through the horde, that would have been suicide. We were going through the train. It led to the toy store which had another entrance right in front of the entrance. It would be the perfect shortcut. The Infected would most likely see us as soon as we went all the way into the Plaza, so we had to be fast. That was going to be kind of hard in my condition, but I wasn't ready to quit yet.  
I took Sabrina by the hand and readied myself for the run.

_One, two, THREE!_ On three we hauled ass into the Plaza and made a quick left into the train. Just as I'd thought, the Infected saw us and immediately screamed and ran for us. We ran into the train and found ourselves in the ice cream parlor. We ran the length of the train into the bakery and then into the toy store. We made a sharp left into the toy store's main room, which was made to look like a train depot designed by a child. The horde was right on our asses and we needed to pick up the pace. We dodged all the knocked down shelves and scattered stuffed animals and found the store's entrance that would drop us off right in front of the park entrance. Once we left the store we ran right underneath the faux Golden Gate Bridge and high-tailed it to the entrance gate.

I'd been afraid that it would be locked shut, which really would have fucked us right now, but luckily it had been smashed open. We ran straight for it and kept running towards Disneyland straight ahead of us. I was exhausted at this point but I wasn't giving up and neither was the horde. We got to the front gate to find that conveniently smashed open too. We ran through the gate into the small courtyard that was before the actual park. The flower bed under the train station that would have had Mickey Mouse's face made of flowers was long dried and dead. I turned to one of the tunnels that led into Main Street and was surprised to see that it had been bricked over, with a familiar red door set into it.

"Safehouse!" I shouted. I hadn't seen one of those since I was traveling the freeway to get here. The door was wide open and was practically calling us in. I dove right in with Sabrina right behind me and shut the door just as the horde slammed into it. Once again, whatever metal this door was made out of held firm against the zombie horde. I finally relaxed and eased myself into Sabrina's lap. It was pitch black in the safehouse and I was sure there was a light, but I was too tired to look for it and I just wanted to be with Sabrina. She stroked my hair and I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep on her thigh. But I knew we had to keep moving, and hopefully there were some supplies in here we could use. But right now I just wanted to rest, and be with my Witch.

"We did it Sab. Thanks to you." She pulled me up and hugged my head, purring softly. For now, I wanted to make this moment last as long as I could.

_To be continued....._


End file.
